Interchange-car-report blank.



N. D. BALLANTINE- INTERCHANGE CAR REPORT BLANK. I APPLICATION riLEn- AUG-7.1911. 1,155,540. Patented Oct. 5,1915.

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N. D. BALLANTINE.

INTERCHANGE CAR REPORT BLANK.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJ. 19H.

15155,540. Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

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NOTEN I). BALLANTINE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

INTERGI'IANGE-CAR-REPORT BLANK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Normal). 'BALLAN- TINE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Interchange-Car-Report Blanks, of which I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. I

The present invention has relation to an interchange car report blank particularly of that kind used by train yard clerks in making a report of freight cars, and the object of the invention is to provide a more simple, economical and effective means for enabling the reports to be made. The invention consists in the features of novelty hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

The American Railway Association has a prescribed form of interchange report which is now very widely in use and which is required to be made in quadruplicate, so that two copies of the report may be given to the agent of the receiving line and two copies to the agent of the delivering line. One of the copies delivered to each of said agents is retained by him, while the other copy is delivered to the car accountant of his line. The report, on reaching the car accountants oflice of each line, is'ordinarily passed through the hands of various record clerks in such oflice, whose duty it is to take record in their books of such cars as appear on the report and check opposite such entries as made, thus necessitating each clerks looking over a large number of ears which do not appear in his book. To avoid the loss of time incident to thus searching through the report for cars which belong in their respective books, the plan has been adopted in some car accountants oflices of transcribing either in manuscript or type-writing upon a small tag (usually provided with a hole in one end for filing on a spindle) such information only from the report as is necessary for the record clerk to use. About half the matter contained upon the report consists of statisticaldata not required by the record clerk. The tags are then assorted, either on spindles or in little trays or Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 7, 1911.

Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

Serial No. 642,726.

boxes, according to the record clerks books and sometimes according to the pages in such books, thus providing each record clerk with the data which belongs to his book. In order to avoid the expense and delay incident to the transcribing of certain data on to small tags, as above indicated, it has been heretofore proposed to provide supplemental half sheets interleaved with the report sheets and correspondingly marked with columns, etc., the columns being so arranged that all the data required by the record clerks shall appear on the left-hand half of the full report sheet, opposite which the supplemental sheets are arranged. Hence, when the yard clerk fills out his report all the full sheets will contain the same written matter (because of carbons interposed between the sheets) and the half sheets will contain such matter of the report as is necessary for the use of the record clerks in the car accountants oflices. These half sheets are divided by lines extending across the same from right to left between which the written matter will appear, the division lines serving to indicate the points upon which the half sheets may be cut up into strips and between the division lines at the edge of each half sheet are formed perforations so that each strip maybe conveniently placed upon a spindle for filing, The making of full size sheets and half sheets, as individual sheets bound together in book form, is objectionable not only because of the initial expense of printing and assembling and binding the individual sheets, but because of the difficulty in securing an accurate registration of the columns and ruled lines of the various sheets and half sheets when superposed upon each other and bound together.

By my present invention I provide a report blank adapted to be conveniently carried by the train yard clerk in his pocket, this report blank being of such construction that it can be most economically printed and can be folded so as to provide the necessary number of copies with the lines and columns of all the sheets in accurate registration when the sheets are folded for use. Moreover, with my improved construction of interchange report blank the half sheets which are to be subsequently cut up into strips and consequently subjected to most handling, are arranged on top of the full iii) sheets, so that the written matter will appear most distinctly upon such half sheets.

Figure 1 is a View on a reduced scale of one side of my improved report blank, and Fig. 2 is a view similar to 1, but showing the opposite sides of the blank, the printed matter other than the ruled lines being omitted from these views. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing my improved report blank folded and ready for use.

As shown, my improved report'blacl: is formed of four wide sheets designated respectively a, b, c and d and two half sheets designated, respectively, 6 and f. Preferably, sheets a, b, 0, and (Z will be about 11 inches long and 9 inches wide, although, obviously,.other dimensions may be used. Between the several sheets are formed vertical rows of perforations 1, 2, 3, 4L and 5, or the sheets are otherwise weakened at the points at which the blank will be folded, and each of the sheets is printed upon one side. All of the sheets will be printed with intersecting vertical and horizontal lines forming columns and spaces for matter to be written therein, and at the top of each of the double sheets a, b, c, and (Z will appear such printed matter, for example, as is indicated in Fig. 8 of the drawings, showing the data to be noted in each of the columns and showing the road by which the cars were received and delivered, the station, date, etc. Each of the single sheets will bear the same printed matter and vertical and horizontal lines as the left hand half of each of the underlying double sheets, and the horizontal and vertical lines of the single or half sheets will overlie and register exactly with the corresponding horizontal and vertical lines of the left-hand half of each of the double sheets beneath them.

In preparing the blank for use, it will be folded upon the perforated or weakened lines, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. That is to say, assuming the blank to be in the extended position shown in Fig. 1, the double sheet a will be folded toward the right on the perforated line 1 beneath the sheet 6; then the double sheet 0 will be folded to the left along the perforated line 2 upon the face of the sheet I) then the double sheet at and the single sheet f will be folded together toward the left on the line 4: upon the double sheet 0 and the single sheet 6, respectively. In this condition the four double sheets will be folded one upon the other, and the two single sheets 6 and f will be folded upon each other, and the two single sheets will then be folded together along the lines 3 and 5 on to the lefthand half of the printed face of the double sheet (Z. The blank will then be in the that sheets of carbon will be placed between the several double sheets and between the single or half sheets, and as well also between the innermost half sheet 6, and the left-hand half of the printed face of the double sheet (Z, or the unprinted backs of the several sheets (except the double sheet a) may be carbonized so that the written mat ter may be manifolded. hen the blank has been thus folded, it will be placed within a suitable holder consisting of a front and back cover of cardboard or like stiff material, and the blank space of the sheets may be filled out by the yardman' and will appear upon the several sheets in exactly the same position on. each. If desired, each of the sheets 0 and 7" may be formed with a series of holes 7 adjacent their edges, these holes being arranged so that when the single sheets have been divided into strips along the heavy horizontal lines (see Fig. 3) the strips may be conveniently filed upon spindles passed through the holes 7. When the several sheets of the blank have been filled out by the yardman, two of the double sheets will be given to the agent of the receiving line (one to be retained by said agent and one to be sent to the car accountant of said line), and two of the double sheets will be given to the agent of the delivering line, (one for his own file and the other to be sent to his car accountant). The two single or half sheets 6 and f will be delivered to the record clerks of the receiving and delivering lines, respectively, and these .half sheets will be cut up into strips along the heavy lines 8 for assorting, distributing and filing. The rows of perforations along which the several sheets are united, enable the sheets to be conveniently torn apart, but serve to temporarily hold them together so that when folded the printed matter upon all the sheets shall accurately register. Inasmuch as the two single or half sheets 6 and f are uppermost, when the sheets are being written upon, it is obvious that the writing upon such sheets will be more legible than upon the sheets beneath them, and this is important, as the single sheets are subjected to more handling when they are be ing cut up, distributed and filed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 2- 1. A report blank folded upon a series of vertical lines to form. a plurality of superposed double sheets of equal size in contact with each other throughout their entire area and two single sheets of equal size folded superposed upon a portion of the faceof the upper wide sheet, the sheets of the blank being printed and ruled alternately upon opposite faces thereof to formappropriately designated, registering spacesu-pon the up-g per faces of all of said sheets to receive data together also in contact with each other and if 5 constituting a full car record upon each of said Wide sheets and a portion of such rec- 0rd upon each of said narroW sheets, substantially as described.

2. A car report blank divided by Weakened vertical lines into four double sheets of equal size and two single sheets of equal size, the Wide sheets being provided With like vertical and transverse intersecting rulings forming columns and spaces appropriately designated to receive data constituting a full car record, said rulings and designations being located alternately on the opposite faces of said sheets, the single sheets bearing identical rulings and designations appearing on one side of the double sheets and being located alternately on their opposite faces, so that When the blank is folded in such a manner that the double sheets are superposed in contact With each other throughout their entire area and in registration and the single sheets are superposed also in contact with each other and in registration and located immediately above one side of the double sheets, like rulings and designations on all the sheets Will be in registration, substantially as described.

3. A report blank, comprising a blank of paper divided by vertical lines into a plurality of equal Width full sheet-s, one of the intermediate full sheets being equally divided vertically to provide two one-half sheets, the alternate full sheets oln both sides of the blank being appropriately printed and ruled to provide one printed side to each full sheet, and said one-half sheets being also appropriately printed and ruled on opposite sides of the blank to pro vide one printed side to each one-half sheet, whereby the blank can be folded on the dividing lines to superpose the full sheets in contact With each other throughout their entire area, With the one-half sheets superposed in contact With each other upon the outer full sheet.

NOTEN D. BALLANTINE.

Witnesses:

:KATHARINE GERLAGH, JAMES H. PEIRCE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

